Fender Design - Wheel Arch Challenge

Wheel Arch Gap Calculation

Aim:

To decide whether the given design passes the European standards or not.

Introduction

Wheel arch corners are also known as fender flares and are used for vehicles with tires that protrude slightly from the fender. The wheel Arch area of the fender is usually designed as a cover or sheild over the tyre along its perimeter to stop any debris or stones, dirt, sand, snow etc, the wheel arch of fenders must be compliant with the standards and regulations set by the respective countries.

Calculation Of Wheel Arch using of Given Fender Design

The European regulation requires a pre determined clearance or a minimum distance of 10mm. to be maintained between the Fender (Front Quarter Panel) and the respective tyre at particular points(5 points/Sections to be exact) along the tyre profile as shown below:

Procedure of Calculation

• A horizontal and vertical Axis is drawn from the centre of the wheel.
• The vertical axis intersection point is labelled as SA.
• Similar references are drawn at 30 degree to the left and 50 degree to the right of the section SA and are named SB and SC respectively.
• A line of 150mm is drawn perpendicular to the horizontal axis and the normal from that point on the fender gives us SE.
• The midpoint of the arc cut by the sections SC and SE results in a new section SD.
• The value of 'L' at each section and the value of 'a' are found out to determine whether the fender satisfies the European standards as shown below.

'L' Value at Section SA:

SA=9.9490mm less than L value so europe Standard arch value is Not Pass

'L' Value at Section SB:

SB=10mm Equal to L value so europe Standard arch value is Pass

'L' Value at Section SC:

SC=0.1139mm less than L value so europe Standard arch value is Not Pass

'L' Value at Section SD:

SD=2.8875mm less than L value so europe Standard arch value is Not Pass

'L' Value at Section SE:

SE=5.9973mm less than L value so europe Standard arch value is Not Pass

Value of 'a' at SB:

'a' at SB=49.6439mm greaterthan 5mm so Wheel guard value is Pass

As per the European standards, the value of 'L' should be greater than 10mm. But at Section SB, the value of L is equal to 10mm and at other sections the value of 'L' is less than 10mm. So, it does not satisfy the condition L > 10mm to meet the European standards in any of the sections.

Value of 'a' at SC:

'a' at SC=43.13599mm greaterthan 5mm so Wheel guard value is Pass

The value of 'a' at the sections SB and SC are greater than 5mm. So, it satisfies the criteria for wheel guard requirement.

CONCLUSION:

From the above results, we can conclude that the given fender does not pass the European standards for wheel arch.